Sharif Digital Repository

Molecular dynamics simulations are carried out to investigate the manipulation of metallic clusters on stepped surfaces. Five surface forms are considered in the simulations. The system parts are made of pure transition metals and Sutton-Chen many-body potential is used as interatomic potential. The conditions which are subjected to change in the tests include: materials used for particles and substrate, and surface step conditions. In addition to qualitative observations, two criteria which represent the particle deformation and substrate abrasion are utilized as evaluation tools and are computed for each case. Simulation results show the effect of the aforementioned working conditions on... 

Molecular dynamics simulations are carried out to investigate the manipulation of metallic clusters on double-layer surfaces. The system parts are made of transition metals. The conditions which are subjected to change in the tests are material combinations for cluster, main substrate and lubricant layer (adlayer). In addition to qualitative observations, two criteria which represent the particle deformation and substrate abrasion are utilized as evaluation tools and are computed for each case. Obtaining this sort of knowledge is highly beneficial for further experiments in order to be able to plan the conditions and routines, which guarantee better success in the manipulation process  

The diverse physical properties of membranes play a critical role in many membrane associated biological processes. Proteins responsible for membrane transport can be affected by the lateral membrane order and lateral segregation of proteins is often controlled by the preference of certain membrane anchors for membrane phases having a physically ordered state. The dynamic properties of coexisting membrane phases are often studied by investigating their thermal behavior. Optical trapping of gold nanoparticles is a useful tool to generate local phase transitions in membranes. The high local temperatures surrounding an irradiated gold nanoparticle can be used to melt a part of a giant... 

A highly sensitive and selective colorimetric method for detection of copper ions, based on anti-aggregation of D-penicillamine (D-PC) induced aggregated gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was developed. Copper ions can hinder the aggregation of AuNPs induced by D-PC, through formation of mixed-valence complex with D-PC that is a selective copper chelator. In the presence of a fixed amount of D-PC, the aggregation of AuNPs decreases with increasing concentrations of Cu2+ along with a color change from blue to red in AuNPs solution and an increase in the absorption ratio (A520/A 650). Under the optimum experimental conditions (pH 7, [AuNPs] =3.0 nmol L-1 and [NaCl]=25 mmol L-1), a linear calibration... 

Co-deposition of RF-sputtering and RF-PECVD from acetylene gas and Au target were used to prepare sensor chip of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs). Deposition conditions were optimized to reach a Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) sensor chip of Au NPs with particle size less than 10 nm. The RF power was set at 180 W and the initial gas pressure was set at 0.035 mbar. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) images and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) data were used to investigate particles size and surface morphology of LSPR sensor chip. The Au and C content of the LSPR sensor chip of Au NPs was obtained from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The hydrogenated amorphous carbon (a-C:H)... 

For the first time, a new platform based on electrochemical growth of Au nanoparticles on aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (A-MWCNT) was developed for sensitive lable-free DNA detection of the TP53 gene mutation, one of the most popular genes in cancer research. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to monitor the sequence-specific DNA hybridization events related to TP53 gene. Compared to the bare Ta or MWCNT/Ta electrodes, the synergistic interactions of vertically aligned MWCNT array and gold nanoparticles at modified electrode could improve the density of the probe DNA attachment and resulting the sensitivity of the DNA sensor greatly. Using EIS, over the extended... 

A novel, simple and rapid spectrophotometric method for the determination of nitrophenol (NP) isomer mixtures based on the catalytic activity of gold nanoparticles is described. Gold nanoparticle (∼13 nm) solution was used to catalyze the reduction of NP isomers to aminophenols with an excess amount of NaBH4. The second-order data were obtained by spectrophotometrically monitoring the reduction process of NP isomers. So, multivariate curve resolution optimized by alternative least squares (MCR-ALS) was used to analyze such data. MCR-ALS, an appropriate second-order method, can exploit the so-called 'second order advantage' (the ability to determine in the presence of uncalibrated... 

The screen-printed gold electrode (SPGE) modified with the formation of self-assembly monolayer (SAM) of cysteine (Cys) on gold-nanoparticles (Au nano) was utilized for rapid and simultaneous determination of tetracycline and cefixime antibiotics by square wave voltammetry (SWV). Electrochemical investigation and characterization of the modified electrode was achieved using cyclic voltammetry (CV) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A principal component artificial neural network (PCANN) with three layer back-propagation network was utilized for the analysis of the voltammogram data. It is possible to simultaneously determine the tetracycline and cefixime concentrations in the ranges of... 

A simple electrodeposition method is employed to construct a thin film modifier of palladium-gold nanoparticles (Pd-AuNPs) decorated multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) on the surface of glassy carbon electrode (GCE). Morphology and property of Pd-AuNPs-MWCNT have been examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Electrochemical performance of Pd-AuNPs-MWCNT/GCE for detection of ceftazidime (CFZ) has been investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV). This nanostructured film modified electrode effectively exhibited enhanced properties for detection of ceftazidime (CFZ). The effects of various experimental variables such as, the amount of casted MWCNT,... 

Electrochemical deposition, as a well-controlled synthesis procedure, has been used for subsequently layer-by-layer preparation of nickel hydroxide nanoparticle-reduced graphene oxide nanosheets (Ni(OH)2-RGO) on a graphene oxide (GO) film pre-cast on a glassy carbon electrode surface. The surface morphology and nature of the nano-hybrid film (Ni(OH)2-RGO) was thoroughly characterized by scanning electron and atomic force microscopy, spectroscopy and electrochemical techniques. The modified electrode appeared as an effective electro-catalytic model for analysis of rifampicin (RIF) by using linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The prepared modified electrode exhibited a distinctly higher activity... 

This study describes spectrometric monitored kinetic processes to determine the size of citrate-capped Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) based on aggregation induced by L-cysteine (L-Cys) as a molecular linker. The Au NPs association process is thoroughly dependent on pH, concentration and size of nanoparticles. Size dependency of aggregation inspirits to determine the average diameters of Au NPs. For this aim the procedure is achieved in aqueous medium at pH 7 (phosphate buffer), and multivariate data including kinetic spectra of Au NPs are collected during aggregation process. Subsequently partial least squares (PLS) modeling is carried out analyzing the obtained data. The model is built on the... 

Just a few investigations have been conducted to study the mixed nanofluids(MNs), which contain more than one type of nanoparticles, despite considerable advances in the field of nanofluids thermal conductivity. In present research, by combining different volume fractions of various nanoparticles, the variation of mixed nanofluids thermal conductivity was considered. The mentioned nanofluids have different fabrication cost. First, the effect of each specific nanoparticle presence in the base fluid on the thermal conductivity of nanofluid was surveyed both experimentally and theoretically. Then, the thermal conductivities of two MNs, one consisted of a metallic nanoparticle (high thermal... 

Supported iron oxide nanoparticles are found to be efficient and recoverable catalyst in the selective oxidation of thiols to their corresponding disulfides using hydrogen peroxide as green oxidant at room temperature. The protocol features an easy work-up, simplicity and the utilizing mild reaction conditions, as well as high selectivity toward disulfides, are highly advantageous compared to alternative reported methodologies. The supported iron oxide nanoparticles could be easily recovered and reused several times without any loss of activity. ICP-MS results prove that there is no metal leaching observed, and demonstrating the stability of the catalyst under the reaction conditions  

Green and simple synthesis strategies have gained tremendous popularity for the production of anisotropically-shaped noble metallic nanoparticles. The long-term stability of the produced particles, the short timescale of the target reaction(s), as well as the use of non-toxic chemicals, are pivotal features of a useful green procedure. Herein we describe a simple and convenient wet-chemical approach to synthesize stable, non-toxic and water-soluble small gold nanotriangles (GNTs) and gold nanospheres (GNSs) in one step at room temperature, using Tween 20 and Tween 80, respectively. A high level of purity and monodispersity was obtained for the GNTs, in addition to an excellent colloidal... 

Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles (SPIONs) were synthesized and coated with pseudopolyrotaxanes (PPRs) and proposed as a novel hybrid nanostructure for medical imaging and drug delivery. PPRs were prepared by addition of α-cyclodextrin rings to functionalized polyethylene glycol (PEG) chain with hydrophobic triazine end-groups. Non-covalent interactions between SPIONs and PPRs led to the assembly of SPIONs@PRs hybrid nanomaterials. Measurements of the 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) relaxation times T1 and T2 allowed us to determine the NMR dispersion profiles. Comparison between our SPIONs@PRs hybrid nano-compound and the commercial SPION compound, Endorem®, showed a higher... 

Three strategies were employed for the assembly of gold nanoparticles on silica-coated magnetite particles (SCMPs). In strategy I, citrate-coated gold nanoparticles were attached on the surface of amine-SCMPs. In strategy II, amine-SCMPs were coated with carboxylated gold nanoparticles via amide bond formation. In strategy III, the thiol-SCMPs surface was coated with gold nanoparticles. Among the above examined strategies, coating amine-SCMPs with gold nanoparticles via strategy I resulted in a better coverage and stronger intensity of absorption bands. Furthermore, results obtained through strategy I showed that decreasing the pH of the solution from 7 to 3 leads to a further red-shift of... 

Gold nanoparticles are widely used as high efficient photon-thermal energy converters in a broad range of applications. This paper presents a theoretical investigation on using the optothermal properties of gold nanoparticle arrays to generate nanoscale molten and rubbery regions on the surface of an amorphous polymeric film. Nanoparticles are assumed to be embedded in a transparent silica layer and illuminated with a 7.5 ns pulsed laser at 532 nm. Simulation results are presented for systems with single gold nanoparticles, dimers and chains. Both electromagnetic and thermal interaction between nanoparticles are found to be important factors in determining the result of surface processing.... 

A novel approach for highly sensitive detection of captopril was developed based on the fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) and fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC), in which FITC acts as the donor and Au NPs as the acceptor. The fluorescence intensity of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) was strictly quenched as a result of noncovalently adsorbed on Au NPs. Upon the addition of captopril, the fluorescence intensity of FITC turn-on due to the competition between captopril and FITC towards the surface of Au NPs. Under the optimum conditions, the fluorescence intensity of the released FITC displays a linear relationship in the range of 20 μg L-1 to... 

Gold nanorods (GNRs) can be used in various biomedical applications; however, very little is known about their in vivo tissue distribution by radiolabeling. Here, we have developed a rapid and simple method with high yield and without disturbing their optical properties for radiolabeling of gold rods with iodine-131 in order to track in vivo tissue uptake of GNRs after systemic administration by biodistribution analysis and γ-imaging. Following intravenous injection into rat, PEGylated GNRs have much longer blood circulation times. We have developed a rapid and simple method for radiolabeling of gold rods with iodine-131 in order to track in vivo tissue uptake of gold nanorods after systemic... 

To efficiently enhance the contrast obtaining from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), pharmaceutical grade colloidal dispersions of PEG coated iron-based nanoparticles were prepared and compared to conventional pure iron oxide contrast agent. In this study, we synthesized ∼14 nm iron nanoparticles via NaBH4 reduction of iron(III) chloride in an aqueous medium. The resulting nanoparticles were further oxidized by two different methods via (CH3)3NO oxygen transferring agent and exposure to oxygen flow. XRD and electron microscopy analyses confirmed the formation of a second layer on the surface of α-Fe core. As magnetic measurements and Mössbauer spectra of 4-months post prepared nanoparticles...